AMN / NEW DELHI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for maintaining a balance in all constitutional bodies to fully realize the dream of freedom fighters. He said, the balance between the judiciary, legislature, and executive has been the backbone of the Constitution.
Mr Modi stressed on the need for these three pillars of the Indian democracy to strengthen each other and work together for a new India. He said, India is a young country and all its institutions should work together to give direction to the new India as their every decision impacts the lives of common people.
Addressing the valedictory session of a two day conference on National Law Day in New Delhi today, Mr Modi said, institutions should empower one another. He said, Indian constitution is not merely a statute book but a social document with a social philosophy.
It has passed all the tests and proved its critics wrong. He said, Constitution is vibrant, sensitive, accountable and capable. The Prime Minister also referred to the Dr B R Ambedkar quotes who had said that Constitution is workable, flexible and strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and war time.
The Prime Minister stated that separation of powers is a fundamental concept of the Constitution, which could not be violated. He said, the legislative should be free to frame laws, the executive should be free to take any action and the judiciary should be free to interpret the laws enacted by legislatures.
On pendency of large number of cases in courts, the Prime Minister suggested that evening courts can be started to tackle the issue as is already being done in some states.
Mr Modi also pitched for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. He said, the elections had become a costly affair for the country. He contended that frequent elections to state assemblies keep the nation in poll mode round the year affecting decision making.
He said, the country has had a good experience of conducting simultaneous elections but the practice was done away with due to internal weaknesses. On the occasion, Mr Modi urged for a intensive debate on holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
Earlier, addressing the function, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, the governance should be left to the people elected to govern and make laws. He said, government respects the collegium system for appointment of judges in higher judiciary but there is a need for audit of its outcomes particularly in view of some unpleasant cases involving judges.
On the occasion, Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra said, there should be mutual respect in all wings of the government without claiming supremacy over others. He said, judiciary is never interested in policy formulation.